Back in 1992, George Bush Sr. was considered unbeatable in the US presidential race due to major successes in foreign policy developments, such as the ending of the Cold War and the Persian Gulf War. However, recession was hitting hard so James Carville, then Bill Clinton's senior campaign manager, got the team to rally around the team the slogan "It's the economy stupid!" In doing so, they focused on what was most important in the minds of the voting public - the economy. The strategy paid off. Clinton went on the win the presidency and Monica Lewinsky became a household name! But I digress...
When it comes to sales and marketing we are faced with a preponderance of potential touch points to the customer. Everything from websites and email to events/conferences, mobile apps and the ever exploding - SOCIAL MEDIA! However, more important than hitting the customer from a multitude of angles is focusing on improving - THE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE!
The question is, "How do you achieve the holy grail of 'one customer view', with such a wide range of potential touch points"?
New research by UK Based Econsultancy in association with Foviance the "Multi-Channel Customer Experience Report", based on a survey of more than 500 companies and agencies, examines the extent to which organizations have a strategy for providing a joined-up customer experience and how close companies are to that holy grail. Needless to say - some interesting findings:
Let's start with a definition according to the report:
Multi-channel Customer Experience
The aggregated experience a customer has of a brand gained from all interactions across managed and un-managed touch-points, for the duration of that relationship.
The report list 14 touch points to the customer of which 9 were relevant to at least half of those surveyed.
The report finds that "while a vast majority of companies understand the impact on business performance, very few organizations have integrated, cross-channel processes and systems in place, or a strategy to help them to achieve this".
The encouraging news is that many companies are trying to tackle the challenges of a multi-channel customer experience, but for most there is still a long way to go.
The report delves into the Foviance "Customer Experience Maturity Model" and enables organizations to benchmark their progress and think about how they can become more advanced in their approach, at a time when customer expectations are higher than ever.
Can you guess what are the three greatest barriers preventing most organizations from improving the multi-channel customer experience? To find out that and a bunch more, go ahead and download your complete free copy of the comprehensive Multi-Channel Customer Experience Report.